Peter Taylor (journalist)

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For other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor (disambiguation).

British Broadcasting Corporation reporter Peter Taylor interviewing in 2011

Peter Taylor,

WHO Gold Medal for Services to Public Health. He has written books and researched, written and presented television documentaries over a period of more than forty years.[2]
In 2014, Taylor was awarded both a Royal Television Society lifetime achievement award and a BAFTA special award.

Early life

Taylor was born in 1942 in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, and was educated at Scarborough High School for Boys, a state boys' grammar school, followed by Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read Classics, Modern History and Social and Political Sciences.[3]

Career

Taylor's career reporting on

Islamist extremism, culminating in his acclaimed The Secret War on Terror[4] to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11 which the Financial Times described as "a small masterpiece of clarity as to our present condition."[5]
In 2015, he investigated the funding of ISIS in his programme World's Richest Terror Army.

Taylor has written eight books on political violence, his latest being Talking to Terrorists: A Personal Journey from the IRA to Al Qaeda. Others include Beating the Terrorists? Interrogation in Omagh, Gough and Castlereagh, and his

British government
and security forces. The trilogy provides an insight into all the main groups involved and the violent and political events that occurred throughout this turbulent period in Anglo-Irish history. Taylor's books feature interviews with people connected to some of the most significant incidents and landmark political events in Northern Ireland during this time.

In 2000, he presented the three part BBC2 series Brits on the covert war in Northern Ireland including interviews of former members of

Secret Intelligence Service and GCHQ (anonymously). The Guardian described it as “meticulously researched and enviably sourced”.[7]

His documentaries on smoking and health and the politics of tobacco include four for ITV in the 1970s: Dying for a Fag (ITV's This Week 1975); Licence to Kill; Ashes to Ashes (ITV's This Week 1976); and Death in the West. The Marlboro Story. In the 1980s he continued his investigations into the tobacco industry with BBC TV's Panorama programme: A Dying Industry (BBC 1980) and The Habit the Government can’t Break (BBC 1985). He also published his book, Smoke Ring. The Politics of Tobacco in 1985. In May/June 2014, a new BBC series, Burning Desire was aired with Taylor as the presenter.

In 2014, he was awarded a Royal Television Society lifetime achievement award and a BAFTA special award for his career's contribution to factual and current affairs television. Awarding Taylor his BAFTA, Sir

Panorama
.

Personal life

He was married to fellow journalist Susan McConachy from 1974 until her death on 16 November 2006. They had two children, Ben and Sam.[8] He is the older brother of John Taylor, former Presenter & Producer/Director LWT's The London Programme and reporter on Panorama[9][10] worked on ITV's This Week,[11] presented Carlton TV's Inside Crime,[12] and worked for Channel Five's Crime Report, Reported on London News Network's London Tonight, and was at BBC News.[13]

Awards

Taylor has been the recipient of numerous awards:[3]

  • Three Royal Television Society (RTS) Best Home Documentary awards:
    • "Coincidence or Conspiracy?" (Panorama on the
      Stalker Affair
      ) (1987)
    • "The Volunteer" (from "Families at War") (1990)
    • "Enemies Within" (Inside Story Special on the Maze Prison) (1991)
  • RTS Judges Award for his contribution to television journalism (1995)
  • RTS Judges Award for his Irish trilogy, "Provos", "Loyalists" and "Brits" (2001).
  • Elected Fellow of the Royal Television Society
  • RTS Journalist of the Year (2003)
  • John Grierson Award for Best Historical Documentary "SAS. Embassy Siege" (2003)
  • James Cameron Award "for work as a journalist that combined moral vision and professional integrity" (2008)
  • Honorary Doctor of Letters,
    Bradford University
    , for his work on terrorism and political violence (2008)
  • Christopher Ewart-Biggs prize for lifetime's contribution to Anglo-Irish understanding. (2013)
  • Four
    BAFTA
    nominations:
    • "Dying for a Fag" (1975)
    • "SAS Embassy Siege" (2003)
    • "Brighton Bomb" (2003)
    • "Generation Jihad" (2010)
  • Lifetime achievement award from the Royal Television Society (2014).[14]
  • BAFTA special award for his career's contribution to factual and current affairs television (2014)

Publications

  • Beating the Terrorists. Interrogation at Omagh, Gough and Castlereagh (1980). Cobden Trust prize for contribution to human rights.
  • Smoke Ring. The Politics of Tobacco (1984)
  • Stalker. The Search for the Truth (1986)
  • Families at War (1989)
  • States of Terror. Democracy and Political Violence (1993)
  • Provos. The IRA and Sinn Féin (1998)
  • Loyalists (1999)
  • Brits. The War Against the IRA (2000)
  • Talking to Terrorists. A Personal Journey from the IRA to Al Qaeda (2011)

References

  1. ^ "Birthday Honours 2002; OBEs N-Z". BBC News. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  2. BBC
    . 10 December 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Mr Peter Taylor". York St John University. 2014. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  4. ^ "The Secret War on Terror". BBC Two. 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  5. ^ Lloyd, John (25 March 2011). "The winds of gradual change". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Britain's 'secret war'". BBC News. 16 May 2000. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  7. ^ Wollaston, Sam (14 March 2011). "TV review: Twenty Twelve; The Secret War on Terror". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  8. ^ Isaacs, Jeremy (23 November 2006). "Obituary: Susan McConachy". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  9. ^ "John Taylor". IMDb. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  10. ^ "The London Programme (1983)". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Flying Plutonium (1988)". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  12. ^ "Inside Crime[19/04/94] (1994)". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  13. ^ "John Taylor". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Peter Taylor honoured with RTS Lifetime Achievement Award". BBC. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
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